Arts, Briefly

The Italian government said yesterday that police investigators had tracked down a rare group of first century B.C. marble panels that had been illegally excavated and offered to museums and private collectors. The 12 panels depict gladiators in combat and were found about two weeks ago in the garden of a private home 25 miles north of Rome, a government prosecutor, Paolo Ferri, said at a news conference. That the thieves did not succeed in selling them suggests that the market in ancient antiquities has largely dried up, he said. He credited Italy’s tougher stance in dealing with those who loot antiquities, including prosecutions he has led recently in Rome, like the current trial of a former J. Paul Getty Museum curator. Mr. Ferri declined to give further details on the case, saying an investigation was under way; he did say that dealers already under investigation for such trafficking were involved. Anna Maria Moretti, a state superintendent for antiquities, said the panels would be on display at the National Etruscan Museum after they were restored. ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Pop Charts: Photo Finish

In the closest race for No. 1 since the company SoundScan began tracking music sales 16 years ago, the “American Idol” alumnus Chris Daughtry’s debut album edged out the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack by about 130 copies, Billboard reported. But in the third straight week of dismal CD sales, nobody was a big winner. Mr. Daughtry’s album, “Daughtry” (RCA), which has been bubbling through the Top 10 since it was released in November, reached the top of the chart with about 65,000 sales, followed closely by “Dreamgirls” (Sony). Another soundtrack, to the Disney Channel movie “Jump In!” (Disney), is at No. 3 with 57,000. After an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last week, the British soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae jumped 28 spots to No. 4, with sales of 55,000 copies of her self-titled album on Capitol. BEN SISARIO

Waits Settles Ad Suit

Tom Waits has settled his lawsuit against the carmaker Adam Opel AG and a German advertising agency over television commercials that he says mimicked his vocal style without his permission. The ads, made two years ago by McCann Erickson Germany for Opel, a division of General Motors, showed car owners putting their vehicles away to the sounds of a gravelly, Waitsian lullaby. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but in a statement Mr. Waits — who has successfully sued advertisers in the past for copying his sound — said he would donate his net proceeds to charity. According to the statement, McCann Erickson said, “We respect Mr. Waits and deeply regret any embarrassment this may have caused.” Mr. Waits said, “I’m glad to be out of the car sales business once and for all.” BEN SISARIO

Domingo Changes His Tune

The tenor Plácido Domingo will turn baritone when he sings the title role in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” for the first time, in 2009 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, The Associated Press reported. A spokesman for Mr. Domingo said the singer, who turned 66 on Sunday, has also agreed to sing the role at La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera in London. In April 2005 while discussing retirement, Mr. Domingo said that he wanted to sing “Simon Boccanegra” before leaving the stage. At the Metropolitan Opera at 8 tonight, Mr. Domingo will give the 3,300th operatic performance of his career, in the season’s final performance of Tan Dun’s “First Emperor.”

Japanese nationalists plan to produce a film on the massacre known as the Rape of Nanking to contradict a series of films to be released this year, its 70th anniversary, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. The nationalists’ film, tentatively titled “The Truth of Nanjing,” as the city is now called, will be directed by SatoruMizushima, who heads a nationalist television channel. Flanked by dozens of supporters, including members of parliament, he said, “If we remain silent, anti-Japanese propaganda will spread across the world.” Chinese historians say some 300,000 civilians died in an orgy of murder, rape and destruction by Japanese troops in the city in 1937. Allied trials of Japanese war criminals put the number of dead at 140,000. Some Japanese historians maintain that the toll was less or deny the massacre, saying the dead were soldiers, not civilians.

‘Idol’ and President Win for Fox

On the night of President Bush’s State of the Union address, the “American Idol” judges kicked off prime time in Memphis with imposing ratings as usual. According to Nielsen’s estimates, which do not account for time zone discrepancies due to interruptions for the president’s live speech, the series yielded 31.2 million viewers in the 8 p.m. hour Tuesday, significantly ahead of second place “NCIS” on CBS (14.3 million). As a result, Fox retained a substantial lead going into State of the Union programming at 9. Ratings for the 49-minute address weren’t immediately available, but preliminary approximations show Fox’s coverage on top, followed by NBC and CBS in a close race for second, and ABC in fourth. On Sunday, “Ocean’s Deadliest,” the documentary Steve Irwin was filming when he was killed, attracted 3.2 million viewers. It was carried on two cable channels, Discovery (1.7 million) and Animal Planet (1.5 million), from 8 p.m. to 9:30. BENJAMIN TOFF

Every week comic book fans look forward to Wednesdays, the day new issues go on sale. On Feb. 7, one of those comics will be the first issue of a new seven-part series based on the Stephen King novel “The Dark Tower,” above, from Marvel Entertainment. To commemorate the event, almost 150 comic book retailers across the country will begin selling the issue at the stroke of midnight. A list of participating stores can be found at www.marvel.com/news/comicstories. Fans who flock to Midtown Comics in Manhattan will see a couple of special guests: Peter David, who writes the dialogue for the series, and Jae Lee, the book’s artist. The store will open for one hour. GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

Correction: February 1, 2007

A report in the “Arts, Briefly” column last Thursday about plans by the tenor Plácido Domingo to sing the baritone title role in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” misstated the day he turned 66. It was Jan. 21, not Jan. 22.